Different
by PheobeColelovers
Summary: Maddison. Takes placed after Desire.


-1_**This is in Mark's point of view. Takes place after Desire and takes off after that. **_

**Different**

I can't believe she did it again. She took it upon herself once more to leave me behind, not thinking that I needed her here. I understood the first time she left. Even though I hated it, I knew she had been right to leave. I had cheated on her and I cannot recall why. There was no reason for me to. She was amazing though clearly still in love with Derek, but that gave me no right to cheat on her.

This time was different though. It wasn't me who cheated. Granted, we weren't officially together, but that was the point of the bet, wasn't it? And she had to go and ruin it for that kid. We have history. We have love, but she throws it away for a guy who wants nothing but sex from her, which sounds awfully familar. If I was in a different state of mind, I might see the poetic justice in this, but I'm too caught up in thinking about where she is to notice, let alone care.

I run to Richard's office, but he refuses me, and even when I begin to beg, he tries to tell me he doesn't know where she's gone, but I see it in his eyes. He and Addison have always been close. He would be the one person she would tell, the one person she trusted her secret with.

"I can't tell you," he informs me, as he tries to sidestep me and leave the office. "Sloan, I have business to attend to."

"No, I'm not moving until you tell me," I stare directly into his eyes and I'm certain he knows how much I mean these words.

"Mark, get out of my way. I am still the Chief. I still have authority over you," his voice rises, but I will not break.

"Not if I quit," I quickly remind him as I remove the white coat from my shoulders and hold it out for him. "Now I don't work here. Just tell me where she is."

I'm surprised at how strange my voice sounds, like it belongs to another man entirely. It's soft, urgent, and pleading, none of which have ever been related of Mark Sloan. Mark Sloan was cold, hard. He took what he wanted, left everything else behind, but that wasn't me anymore. I run my fingers over the name on my lab coat and it seems foreign to me. Sloan was the man determined to bed every woman he encountered. Sloan wouldn't be standing in the office of his boss, giving up his job, his life for one woman.

"Just give me a city."

I offer up the coat to him again, a token of how much this actually means to me, what I'm willing to risk.

"Los Angeles," he finally answers me as he takes the coat from my hands and I move aside, allowing him access to the hallway.

I was on the next flight out, going from the hospital directly to the airport. There was no point in packing. There was nothing here I cared about. Everything I loved was in Los Angeles and the quicker I got there, the easier my breathing would become.

On the plane, I couldn't help but recall our last conversation. I ended it with her, severed all ties, informed her that we weren't compatible. For what? How did that help either one of us? Now she was in a different state, and I felt as if I was literally being torn into pieces. That would definitely be the last time I listened to anything Meredith Grey had to say. '_Let her go_.' That phrase drifted into my mind and I couldn't get rid of it. It was easy for Meredith to say that. She had ended up with the one she loved, beat Addison in a silent battle over Derek. What right did she have to tell me to let Addison go. I had tried, tried so hard not to think of her that last night I saw her as I walked into Joe's, fully intent on finding a woman to replace her for the night, but I couldn't, Addison's bet still in the back of my mind, her face clouding my vision.

When the plane landed, I went to the surrounding hospitals in search of her. I just wanted a glimpse of her right now, her fiery hair, smoldering eyes. To see her roll her eyes at me right now would mean heaven to me.

I found her an hour later in the hospital that seemed to suit her the most, the Children's Hospital in L.A. She was responsible for all aspects of pregnancy and birth, her services most needed in the Neonatal Unit.

She was standing in the NICU, bent over an incubator, talking to the premature baby as though the words could heal the under-developed lungs and irregular heartbeat. She was so caught up in dealing with the patient that she didn't notice me when she looked up for a brief second, trying hard, I could tell, to keep the tears that felt like falling in check. Addi had always had a tough exterior, but it didn't take much for her softer side to come out, mostly focused on her patients, but at times saved for those she held close to her heart. I had once been a person she confided into. I would hold her after she lost a baby at the hospital, explain that it wasn't her fault, and let her tears cover my chest as she let the pain out. She hasn't confided in me for a long time now, her shell completely covering up any weakness she had shown me in New York, afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve around me. Looking in at her, so vulnerable at the moment, I can't help but wonder if she'll ever allow me to see her that way again.

I turned around then. I couldn't bother her now. I wouldn't cause a scene at the hospital. That was the old Mark Sloan, the reckless man who cared for nobody.

I spotted a bench in front of the hospital and sat down. I would wait for her here, so that we could talk when we were both on neutral ground and I wouldn't let her run from me, not again. Never again.

_**That's the first chapter. Hope it wasn't too bad. I'm trying to get the hang of writing GA. Really short, I know. The next chapter will be longer.**_


End file.
